Page 24 - ARUBA TODAY

A24 TECHNOLOGY
Saturday 21 March 2020

Home internet jammed up? Try these steps before upgrading

By FRANK BAJAK the COVID-19 crisis. Oth-
AP Technology Writer ers have dropped service
With so much of the U.S. caps that charge extra
workforce — and their when data usage passes a
families — now cooped certain threshold.
up at home to combat the The relatively few U.S.
spread of the novel coro- households with their own
navirus, it's not a huge sur- direct fiber-optic connec-
prise that home internet is tions have the same band-
showing the strain. width in both directions
If you've had a business vid- and shouldn't experience
eoconference stutter while serious hiccups.
your teenagers play Call of DOES MY HOME NETWORK
Duty online, or found your- NEED AN UPGRADE?
self unable to stream the It might. Start with your in-
news while your spouse ternet modem, the device
uploads huge data files for that most likely has a coax
work, you'll have a good cable connecting it to your
idea of the problem. wall. Your internet provider
IS THERE A BANDWIDTH often rents the modem to
PROBLEM? you.
The internet's core is man- If it's several years old, it's
aging the spike in traffic just probably time to ask your
fine, experts say. It has mas- In this June 19, 2018, file photo, a router and internet switch are displayed in East Derry, N.H. provider if upgrading the
sive capacity to handle Associated Press modem's internal software,
Netflix, YouTube, Zoom and or replacing the modem
other streaming services. the so-called "last mile," net. Since videoconferenc- — per a wag on Twitter — entirely, will help. Older mo-
True, Netflix has just throt- the link that connects your ing sends equal amounts the banter between play- dems often can't deliver
tled down its video quality home to the ultra-high of data both ways, simul- ers often resemble confer- the full bandwidth you're
in Europe at the request of speed internet backbone. taneous sessions can clog ence calls with occasional paying for to your house-
authorities there. But the Most U.S. homes get their the upstream channel and shooting. hold.
company already stores its internet from cable com- disrupt service for the entire You could also order a ser- Next up is your Wi-Fi router.
programs on servers close panies and thus connect household. vice upgrade, although If you have cable, it may
to users' homes already, to the broader network via If that happens, one quick that might not be strictly be built into your modem.
and there's no evidence coaxial cable, a legacy solution is to have some necessary. If you haven't already, try
that it's clogging networks. of the cable TV era. These family members switch to Some providers are tem- moving it to a more central
IF THE INTERNET IS SO STUR- connections provide faster audio-only, which con- porarily offering more location in your home or
DY, WHY DOES MY HOME "downstream" speeds to serves bandwidth. This also bandwidth, particularly for apartment; that will ensure
CONNECTION STUTTER? your home than "upstream" applies to anyone in multi- families with school-age bandwidth is distributed
The problem partly lies in speeds back to the inter- player online games, where children, in response to more equally.q

RoboPony: Chinese robot maker

sees demand surge amid virus

long and uncertain strug- to set up robotics depart- ing is in Shenzhen, adjacent
gle to recover, Liu said his ments at universities and to Hong Kong.
orders have tripled since research institutes. Private One of its robots patrols
the outbreak began. sector developers can ap- Shanghai's Taikoo Hui shop-
"The epidemic made peo- ply for research grants and ping mall. It can spot cus-
ple aware of the fragility of other support. tomers with bare faces and
human beings," Liu said. ZhenRobotics, founded remind them to put on a
"Robots can make up for in 2016, does its research mask. It gives out hand san-
In this March 18, 2020, photo, a maintenance worker looks at a this vulnerability and pro- and development in the itizer and broadcasts anti-
robot outside the offices of ZhenRobotics in Beijing. vide services people can Chinese capital's Zhong- virus information.
Associated Press trust," he said. "Trust in ro- guancun university district, The RoboPony has been
bots has been enhanced a hub for tech companies. used by Suning.com Group
BEIJING (AP) — While other work after China declared dramatically." Liu said the company gets Ltd., one of China's big-
industries struggle, Liu Zhi- victory over the coronavirus Robots for use in factories a break on rent and other gest retailers, to delivery
yong says China's virus out- that shut down the world's and consumer industries official support. food and other necessities
break is boosting demand second-largest economy. are near the top of the rul- Its researchers are working to households during the
for his knee-high, bright ZhenRobotics' flagship ing Communist Party's wish on technologies including outbreak. Demand for e-
yellow robots to deliver model is the six-wheeled, list for technology develop- machine learning, comput- commerce soared after
groceries and patrol malls 68-centimeter-tall (27-inch- ment. er vision and autonomous the government cut most
looking for shoppers who tall) RoboPony. The self- Chinese leaders see them navigation, according to access to cities with a to-
fail to wear masks. driving cart is sold to re- as a profitable export and Liu. tal of 60 million people in
Liu, CEO of ZhenRobotics tailers, hospitals, malls and a way to make up for a ZhenRobotics has a testing late January. Hundreds of
Corp., is among millions apartment complexes. shrinking workforce as the center in the southeastern millions more in other ar-
of entrepreneurs who are Unlike airlines, hotels and population ages. province of Zhejiang, south eas were to told stay home
gradually getting back to other industries that face a Beijing has spent heavily of Shanghai. Manufactur- whenever possible. q